Clergy & Staff

Meet the clergy and staff at St. Cross!

The Rev. Dr. Rachel Anne Nyback

Rector

The Rev. Dr. Rachel Anne Nyback is rector at St. Cross Episcopal Church in Hermosa Beach. She has served St. Cross since her ordination in 2004. She was the associate for family ministry and rector-elect. She has been rector since 2010. She enjoys working with the clergy and staff to build a team that supports the many ministries of the parish they serve. St. Cross is a lay-lead parish and she sees a main focus of her ministry to be sustaining lay leadership for current ministries while encouraging new leaders and ministries when the Spirit calls forth a new ministry. She teaches through her preaching, her pastoral care and her care for the parishioners of St. Cross. She is constantly challenging her congregation about where they can be active in the wider South Bay community and not just within the parish community. 
Rachel has served on many boards and with varied ministries in the Diocese of Los Angeles.  She is active in two clergy groups and also is part of a weekly sermon workshop with four seminary classmates.

Rachel’s love of ministry come from the combination of two of her passions: Jesus and people. No matter where Rachel lands, she enjoys making new friendships, hearing peoples’ stories, and sharing the love of Jesus Christ through relationship. She has lived and worshiped in Massachusetts, Paris, Kuwait and Virginia. Each parish helped form her into the priest she is today though the multicultural experiences of worship in foreign countries with many nationalities worshiping together in common prayer, and in other parts of the United States which gave perspectives very different than that of Southern California.

Before following her call to priesthood, Rachel was a fifth grade teacher in Southern California public schools and in Kuwait. She received her MDiv from Virginia Theological Seminary in 2004 and her DMin from VTS in 2015. She benefited greatly in her first years of ordination as a participant in the Lily Foundation First Three Years program, which seeks to form newly ordained priests in healthy practices that will sustain them throughout the lifetime of their ministries. This program along with her passion for teaching formed her doctoral thesis on best practices for the formation of newly ordained priests. She has led mentoring groups both in her diocese and within the larger church. 

Rachel is a child of the Diocese of Los Angeles. Born in Long Beach, baptized at St. Timothy’s, Compton and raised at St. Paul’s, Pomona (both congregations served by her father who is also a priest). In her free time she loves to read, cook for friends and family, embroider (which you will often see her doing at convention while listening) and go camping in the summer. She cannot decide if she loves the beach, mountains, valleys, or desert the best, as it all depends on where she is at the moment.

The Rev. Michelle Baker-Wright

Associate for Pastoral Care, Liturgics, and Christian Formation

I came to St. Cross in 2024, having previously served at St. James, South Pasadena as Senior Associate and subsequently as Priest-in-Charge. I grew up primarily in Seattle and Chicago, but have lived in the Los Angeles area for over twenty-five years and have family roots in Anaheim going back over 120 years. Some of my earliest memories are of being about four, watching Disneyland fireworks on my grandfather’s shoulders at their Anaheim home.

I have a lifelong love of liturgy and music. My earliest training is as a musician; I began piano at age 6 and flute at age 9, ultimately majoring in Flute Performance at USC’s Thornton School of Music. I grew up in the church in a number of Protestant denominations and discovered the Episcopal Church as an adult as I was completing an MDiv at Fuller Theological Seminary. I was ordained a Priest in 2011 as I was working on a PhD in Liturgy and Music at Fuller. I have always loved learning, teaching, preaching, and playing and composing music, and feel a calling to approach questions about Jesus in a way that is nuanced and deep while also being accessible and practical.

Some of the most profound times when I most deeply experienced Jesus’s presence have been when the church has provided space for me in times of suffering and allowed room for my questions and doubts. My hope and prayer is that I can be a part of offering that kind of space for others to experience Jesus’s love in that way.

I’ve been married to my husband Mark for twenty two years, and we enjoy British mysteries and sci-fi, and discovering new restaurants (especially if there’s table side guacamole involved!).

The Rev. Patti Angelo

Deacon

Patti Angelo was ordained in 2017 to the Sacred Order of Deacons. She and her family have been members of St. Cross since 1997. Following four years of Education for Ministry at St. Cross, she pursued her interest in Religious Studies at Cal State Long Beach. Patti discovered her passion for chaplaincy after serving as an intern at Long Beach Memorial/Miller’s Children’s Hospital. This led her to pursue her M.Div with an emphasis in Interfaith Chaplaincy at Claremont School of Theology, which she received in 2016, and to complete three units of Clinical Pastoral Education at different Southern California hospitals. She also studied at Bloy House, the Episcopal Theological Seminary at Claremont, receiving her Certificate in Diaconal Studies in 2016. Patti’s ministry includes serving at the altar, preaching, teaching, as well as pastoral case both within and outside the church.

The Rev. Cn. Robert W. (Bob) Cornner

Priest in Residence

This is my 62nd year of my life as a Christian that started at St. Cross. I was baptized, confirmed, and sponsored for ordination from this wonderful St. Cross community and my sons were baptized and confirmed here too. I served as a public school teacher for 24 years and spent my last seven years as the principal at the same high school in which I taught.

I retired to answer the call to serve as the rector at neighboring Christ Church in Redondo Beach and after 15 years of serving there, I retired in November of 2015. I am married to Madelyn Rosen and we have three children: Ben, Matt, and Ariana. We have a Granddaughter, Alex and a soon to be born second Grandchild.

I am ever thankful to Rachel for inviting me to come back to St. Cross and to help as I can. It is very good to be back home. Thank you for your kind welcome.

The Rev. Cn. Dr. Paul D. Lawson

Rector Emeritus

Cara Looney

Executive Assistant to the Clergy

Cara joined St. Cross in 2024, though it had been a “home away from home” for many years before that. She and her husband, Joe, moved into the neighborhood in 2012, and their dog, Scout, has been happily fetching balls around campus since 2016. 

Cara’s path to the St. Cross office is decidedly non-linear, spanning trial and jury consulting, automotive market strategy, market research for movie studios, product development focused on consumer sentiment, and designing custom home furnishings and spaces. Her skills are rooted in critical thinking, and her office vibe fosters collaboration, respect, grace, and productivity.

Outside of St. Cross, Cara can be found on a pickleball or volleyball court, enjoying a meal around town or at home, walking with Scout (sometimes Joe too), or promoting local beach culture. She has been a resident of Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach for over 30 years and is a member of the Hermosa Beach Museum’s Annual Gala Board – an event incidentally held in the Parish Hall. Even with her feet firmly on the ground in the beach cities, Cara loves traveling the globe and bringing her collective experiences back to enrich the St. Cross community.

Robin Chatfield

Facilities Manager

Robin Chatfield began her life in the South Bay, attending a private elementary school in Gardena. In 1974, her family moved to Visalia, CA, where she lived until 1984 before returning to Southern California.

Robin worked for seven years at Beverly Hills Mercedes-Benz before venturing off to live in Dallas, Texas. While in Dallas, she attended massage therapy school and became a licensed massage therapist. She practiced massage therapy for 22 years, working in Dallas for six years, Marin County, CA for six years, and eventually returning to the South Bay, where she practiced for ten years.

Music has been a lifelong passion for Robin. She sang in choir and chamber singers throughout her school years and studied voice for two years in Malibu with Russian opera singer Marina Koshetz, learning the Caruso-Garcia method. Today, she enjoys singing karaoke on occasion.

Robin’s interests include interior design, spending time with her dog Scout and her partner Roger, connecting with family and friends, traveling to Hawaii, and, of course, HATS. She feels deeply blessed by the relationships she has formed at St. Cross and is grateful to be part of both the St. Cross community and the community of Hermosa Beach.

A share from one of Robin’s favorite books…

Most of what I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday school, these are the things I learned:

Share everything, play fair, don’t hit people, put things back where you found them, clean up your own mess, don’t take things that aren’t yours, say your sorry when you hurt somebody, wash your hands before you eat, warm cookies and cold milk are good for you, live a balanced life, learn some and think some, draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work everyday some. Take a nap every afternoon and when you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together. Be aware of wonder!  ~Robert Fulghum

Noelani Boyd

Family & Newcomer Ministries Director

Noelani Boyd was born and raised on the Big Island of Hawaii. Her roots there remain deep, but a persistent desire to know more of the world led to the pursuit of her education overseas. After studying in six countries, on four continents and living with many a colorful international roommate, she earned a bachelor’s degree in communication arts. Except for a short foray into commercial real estate which was quickly course corrected, the large majority of her work experience has been focused in some way on communication, storytelling, service and connection. She has worked as a press photographer at the Sydney Olympics, a field photographer and international liaison for the development and launching of a primary school in Northern Uganda, and in Switzerland in the media and communications department of an international medical relief organization. 

In a plot twist, she fell in love and married her high school sweetheart whom she met in Hawaii when they were both 10 years old.  After settling together in Hermosa Beach, they have not moved more than a 1/4 mile in the last two decades. Along with the raising of three rapidly growing children, she continues to work as a writer, freelance photographer, as well as a story producer on documentary films alongside her husband. Her children and husband remain her favorite colorful roommates thus far, and have given her the deepest and broadest of educations yet. Noelani hopes to share that experience while supporting every family that comes through St. Cross, whether young or old, large or small, or even those looking to join one.

Bethany Eanes

Family Ministries & Newcomers Project Coordinator

My family and I were welcomed wholeheartedly into the community at St. Cross. I’m now honored to welcome others. I love opportunities to bring many generations together, and my most sacred moments happen when I feel deep belonging among a diverse group of people … even better when it involves some creative art and great food.

Prior to joining St. Cross, I spent many years operating wellness studios. After having two children, I closed my brick-and-mortar wellness business to focus on creating and operating a cooperative nature school. That school eventually moved into my home, where I homeschool our (now three) daughters. 

I call on my background of creating child-inclusive spaces and my passion for making art to hopefully create something worthwhile here while learning from an incredible staff of people. I thank God for bringing me here and guiding my work in a church and community that embodies so much good. 

Sean Coburn O'Neal

Director of Music

Sean Coburn O’Neal was born and raised in Long Beach, CA. He began musical studies with the piano at age 10, and then with the organ at age 16 – since 1993, his teacher/mentor has been James Walker. Sean has received various musical honors and awards from various musical organizations, most notably having been awarded the first-place performance prize in two regional American Guild of Organists competitions: Arizona, 1995 and Hawaii, 1997.

In addition to playing the organ, piano and choral conducting, Sean has been a pipe organ builder for more than 30 years in the Southern California area, and is the owner of O’Neal Pipe Organs, Inc. of Signal Hill, CA. Sean formerly held the position of Director of Music & Organist/Choirmaster at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Covina, CA for 17 years, and is currently the Director of Music & Organist/Choirmaster for St. Cross Episcopal Church in Hermosa Beach, CA.

Greg Bellavia

Communications & Outreach Coordinator

A married father of two, Greg has been a proud member of the St. Cross community for years before joining the staff, including a stint on the Vestry. Initially drawn to the Church’s outreach ministries, Greg is thrilled to now assist in expanding these programs in addition to finding new opportunities to get the parish involved in helping others. 

Greg’s experience in the world of advertising & web based content fuels his passion for spreading the Word, in person and online, for the mission of St. Cross and the Episcopal Church.